Column Settings dialog

The column settings dialog includes various parameters related to columns. It does not shelter every kind of column parameters stand alone. Some parameters related to polygon and circular columns are set from the polygon column settings dialog. For this reason, there is there is the Polygon Column button on this dialog providing pass to Polygon Column Settings dialog.

To change column settings:

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif Click Settings/Entity Settings/Column Settings or the Column Settings icon from the Column toolbar appearing on the screen when column drawing is active.

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif The Column Settings dialog will appear on the screen.

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif Do the necessary changes.

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif Click OK.

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif Realize column drawing according to the settings made.

The made column settings are valid only for the columns to be drawn hereafter. However, it is possible to change the settings of existing columns as well. For this:

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif Select the columns to be changed by left-clicking and click Modify/Entity Properties.

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif Do the necessary changes in the appearing Column Settings dialog and click OK to exit.

Image/idearchitectural00090000.gif The made changes will be applied on the selected columns.

The column settings dialog is composed of two tabs named as “General” and Advanced”. Generally parameters related to the column itself are located on the general tab where parameters related to column text are located on the advanced tab.

General tab:

Width/Height: The dimensions of the column (m). Width expresses the horizontal dimension and the height denotes the vertical dimension of the column on the plan. Columns can exist at any position (angle) on the plan. In such a case, to discover which of the dimensions is width and which is the height, check “Draw column axis” from Settings/Preferences. Red arrows starting from the node of every column appear on the plan. These arrows show the local +X direction of the related columns. The column dimension in the direction of arrow is width and the dimension perpendicular to this is height.

Delta X/Delta Y: X and Y deltas for rectangular columns. The deltas are given with respect to the upper-left corner of the column. When delta X and delta Y are zero, the node is located at the upper-left corner of the column. If positive (+) value is entered for delta X, the column slides towards left horizontally. If negative (-) value is entered, it slides towards right. For positive (+) and negative (-) delta Y values the columns slides towards up and down respectively. The unit is meter. According to the delta values entered the node can be in or out of the column. However, it is advised to locate node in the column. When entering delta, the co-ordinates should be thought locally. If we explain this with an example; Whatever is the plan direction of a column with dimensions entered as X=0.5 Y=0.25, its deltas will be with respect to this co-ordinate system determined in column settings. In this case the X axis passes through the upper 50 cm length edge and the Y axis through the 25 cm left edge of the column with 25/50 dimensions. If “Draw column axis” from Settings/Preferences is checked, arrows starting from column nodes appear on the screen. The direction of the arrows should be assumed as +X direction. If the column is rotated during placing, the co-ordinate team also rotates together with the column. It is very easy to set column deltas in this system.

Upper Elevation/Elevation: The Upper Elevation and Elevation parameters govern the upper and lower nodes of the column. When these two parameters are zero, the upper node of the column is at story ceiling and the lower node is at story floor i.e. the column height is equal to the story height. If positive (+) value (m) is entered in the Upper Elevation cell, the upper node slides upwards as much as the entered value (the column is extended upwards). If negative (-) value is entered, the column is shortened. In the same way, if positive (+) value is entered in the Elevation cell, the lower node of the column slides upwards (the column is shortened upwards). In case that negative value is entered, since the lower node of the column slides down, the column extends. You should be careful in entering upper elevation and elevation values to columns, to prevent any possible conflicts or discontinuities between columns in different stories.

Shear: Defines the horizontal distance between the upper and lover nodes of the column. Enter value here to define inclined columns.

Growing: If the dimensions of rectangular columns are changed, the directions that the column will grow towards are determined by these parameters. The columns can be growth towards the directions that the checked boxes show. The directions –X, +X, -Y and +Y here should be thought locally according to the column. If the choice “Draw column axis” in the Settings/Preferences dialog is active, arrows starting from the nodes of the columns are drawn on the plan. These arrows show the local +X direction for every column. The growing directions are should be set according to these conditions.

Column ID: Column number is entered here. The program names the column putting C before the number. Columns can be named in a different manner if desired after they are drawn. It is not necessary to name them with the index C.

Plaster exists: Check if you want to drav plaster to columns. Plaster lines at a distance as much as the plaster thickness entered will be drawn around the column. The color of the plaster is set from the plaster color box. When the column is connected to other objects with plasters (e.g.walls), the plaster connections are made automatically by the program. Since the plasters are architectural objects, they do not appear in structural design mode.

Plaster Color: The color of column plaster lines on plan. Left-click on the color box and slide the cursor on the appearing color palette by holding down the mouse button. Leave the mouse button on the color you want to select. The color box will turn to the color selected. If the color box is clicked by holding down the shift key from the keyboard, the pen thickness of the related color can be set. The pen thicknesses are entered in mm and used during project plotting.

Plaster thickness: The thickness (m) of column plaster on plan (The perpendicular distance between the column edge line and the plaster line). It is valid if the choice Plaster exists” is checked. If this choice is not checked, no plaster is drawn in columns. The column plasters are drawn only in architectural design mode. They are not drawn on structural design mode because they are architectural objects.

Column Color: The color of column edge lines. Left-click on the color box and slide the cursor on the appearing color palette by holding down the mouse button. Leave the mouse button on the color you want to select. The color box will turn to the color selected. If the color box is clicked by holding down the shift key from the keyboard, the pen thickness of the related color can be set. The pen thicknesses are entered in mm and used during project plotting.

Pattern: The pattern valid for columns on plan. When you click on the pattern box, the pattern options dialog appears on the screen. Pattern type, pattern color and background color selections can be made in this dialog.

Circular column chord count: The number of points on circular column is entered. The default value is 40. The minimum value that can be entered is 10. For values less then 10 it is taken as 10. +1 is added to odd numbers i.e. if e.g. you enter 11, it is taken 11+1=12.

Polygon Column: You can pass to Polygon Column Settings dialog by clicking this button. Parameters related to polygon columns are located on the polygon column settings dialog. More detailed information about this dialog is given under the topic “Polygon Column Settings Dialog”.

Advanced tab:

Name Text: The height (m) of the column name text.

To set the color of the name text; left-click on the color box and slide the cursor on the appearing color palette by holding down the mouse button. Leave the mouse button on the color you want to select. The color box will turn to the color selected. If the color box is clicked by holding down the shift key from the keyboard, the pen thickness of the related color can be set. The pen thicknesses are entered in mm and used during project plotting.

If you click the button lust below, the Font Settings dialog appears on the screen. Here you can set the font type and effect for the column name text. The column text are displayed only in structural design mode. They are always horizontal.

Dimension Text: The height (m) of the column dimension text.

To set the color of the dimension text; left-click on the color box and slide the cursor on the appearing color palette by holding down the mouse button. Leave the mouse button on the color you want to select. The color box will turn to the color selected. If the color box is clicked by holding down the shift key from the keyboard, the pen thickness of the related color can be set. The pen thicknesses are entered in mm and used during project plotting.

If you click the button just below, the Font Settings dialog appears on the screen. Here you can set the font type and effect for the column dimension text. The column text are displayed only in structural design mode. They are always horizontal.

Name X/Name Y: The X and Y co-ordinates (m) of the column name text with respect to upper-left corner of the column. If the value for Name X is positive the name text slides to left, if it is negative it slides to right. If Name Y is positive, the name text slides upwards where if negative it slides downwards.

Dim X/Dim Y: The X and Y co-ordinates (m) of the column dimension text with respect to upper-right corner of the column. If the value for Dim X is positive the name text slides to left, if negative it slides to right. If Dim Y is positive, the dimension text slides upwards where if negative it slides downwards.

Materials: The material to be coated on columns in render images. The columns are coated with the selected material and displayed in renders in this way. Click the arrow button on the right of the material box. Select a material from the appearing material list. The materials should have been defined formerly. If there are no materials defined, click Construct/Materials to define material. The defined materials can be used in every kind of objects.

Texture World Length: Enter the texture length (m) e.g. if you enter 1, the texture length is taken as 1 m and coated on the related walls. If the texture is thought as square shaped, the object surfaces are coated by texture segments of 1x1 m dimension put one next to the other.